Fishing lure

ABSTRACT

A lure attachable to a leader securing a hook to a fishing line. The lure is shaped to simulate a strip of fish bait and has a body and a relatively wide head which is provided with a leading edge which acts as a planing surface and a top edge. Holes are drilled through the head to emerge on the top edge and the leader slidably extends through a selected one of the holes initially to position the hook alongside the body. The curved shape of the body, the planing action of the leading edge, and the spacing of the leader relative to the leading edge as determined by the hole selected to receive the leader, all combine to give a particular swimming action to the lure as it is drawn through the water.

United States Patent Metzger 51 Aug. 22, 1972 [54] FISHING LURE [72]Inventor: Carl P. Metzger, 180 Burnside Rd.,

' Victoria, British Columbia, Canada [22] Filed: Feb. 5, 1971 [21] Appl.No.: 112,932

[52] US. Cl. ..43/42.05, 43/4223, 43/4234,

43/4252 [51] Int. Cl. ..A0lk 85/00 [58] Field of Search.....43/42.05,42.23, 42.36, 42.34

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,434,204 10/ 1 922Grounsell ..43/4205 2,528,861 11/1950 Clasen et al. ..43/4205 3,205 ,6089/ 1965 Dickinson ..43/42.23

Primary Examiner-Samuel Koren Assistant Examiner-Daniel J. LeachAttorney--Fetherstonhaugh & Co.

[57] ABSTRACT A lure attachable to a leader securing a hook to a fishingline. The lure is shaped to simulate a strip of fish bait and has a bodyand a relatively wide head which is provided with a leading edge whichacts as a planing surface and a top edge. Holes are drilled through thehead to emerge on the top edge and the leader slidably extends through aselected one of the holes initially to position the hook alongside thebody. The curved shape of the body, the planing action of the leadingedge, and the spacing of the leader relative to the leading edge asdetermined by the hole selected to receive the leader, all combine togive a particular swimming action to the lure as it is drawn through thewater.

5 Claims, 4 Drawing Figures FISHING LURE My invention relates to fishinglures and more particularly to a lure designed to simulate a herringstrip.

One of the most popular and successful lures for catching Pacific salmonis a device commonly referred to as a herring strip and comprising aholder with a small herring, or preferably a slice taken lengthwise offa large herring, attached thereto. The fish bait is secured to theholder normally by means of a toothpick or transversely extending pinand this a time consuming and tedious task which is objected to by manyfishermen and particularly commercial fishermen. There are otherdisadvantages to using this type of fresh bait lure, for example, theneed to keep a supply of fresh bait on hand which usually requiresrefrigeration on a commercial fish boat and the fact that the baititself is extremely vulnerable and quite easily lost. However, fishermenhave hitherto put up with these disadvantages in view of the excellentfishing record of the herring strip device.

I provide a lure having the general appearance of a herring strip butwhich does not require the use of fresh bait to attract fish. The hireis shaped to roll as it is trolled through the water and to otherwisemove about in a manner most likely to attract the attention of thesalmon or other game fish and to deceive the fish into thinking it is alive but injured herring darting about in the frantic effort to escape.Once the fish strikes the rotating lure and is impaled by the hook, thelure moves upwardly along the leader to escape damage in the ensuingstruggle. The rate at which the lure rolls or rotates during trollingcan be adjusted by altering the position of the leader where it extendsforwardly of the lure and relative to adjacent parts of the head of thelure.

In drawings which illustrate a preferred embodiment of the invention,

FIG. 1 is a side elevation of a lure in accordance with the presentinvention,

FIG. 2 is a top plan view,

FIG. 3 is an elevation of the side of the lure opposite to the sideshown in FIG. 1, and

FIG. 4 is a view taken on the line 4-4 of FIG. 3.

Referring to the drawings, the numeral indicates generally a lure whichpreferably is made of a tough, flexible plastic material. The lure 10 isshaped somewhat like a small strip sliced off the side of a herring soas to have a body 12, a head 14, and a tail 16 which may simply betapered to a point without having the usual tail fins.

Body 12 is a molded strip having an upper edge 20, a lower edge 21, andparallel side faces 22 and 23. As shown in FIG. 2, the body 12 islongitudinally curved between the head and tail. Thus the side face 22is inwardly bowed or substantially concave and the side ous shades.Theconvex side 23 may then be coveredv face 23 is outwardly bowed orsubstantially convex. I

propose to mold the present lure-in solid colors of variwith a readilyavailable adhesive attached synthetic material which is silver coloredand has embossed sequins to give the lure the scale efiect of a naturalherring strip.

The head 14 is a substantially triangular shaped portion which isslightly thicker than the body 12 and preferably said head projectslaterally beyond the concave side face 22. Thus the head 14 has arelatively wide leading edge 26, a trailing edge 27, and an upper edge28. Edge 26 is disposed at an angle of about 47 to the longitudinal axis32 (FIGS. 1 and 3) of the fishing lure. Trailing edge 27 of the head canbe disposed at.

right angles to the axis 32 or approximately so as shown best in FIG. 3.Upper edge 28 is a continuation of the corresponding edge 20 of the bodyand therefore curves forwardly and downwardly to form with the leadingedge 26, a nose 34.

Referring again particularly to FIG. 3, the head 14 will be seen to beprovided with holes 37 and 38. Only two holes are shown for the sake ofconvenience although more may be provided if desired and the holesillustrated are drilled through the head 14 to appear on the trailingedge 27 and the upper edge 28. The hole 37 starts about midway along thetrailing edge 27 and extends upwardly at an angle of about 45 to saidedge to appear on the upper edge 28 spaced approximately one-fourth ofan inch to the rear of the nose 34. Hole 38 is disposed at substantiallythe same angle relative to .the trailing edge 27 but is a relativelyshort hole which cuts across the upper comer of the head as best shownin FIG. 3, this hole being located about one-half an inch to the rear ofthe nose 34.

The fishing lure 10 is adapted to be attached to a leader 40 of the typeused to connect a hook 41 to a fishing line, not shown. In order toreleasablyv secure the hook 41 to the present lure, the body 12 isprovided with a holder 44 which projects outwardly from the concave sideface 22 and is located on the axis 32. Holder 44 provides a socket 45which is shaped to receive the eyed end 46 of the hook. An opening 47 isformed in the forward end of the holder 44 to communicate with thesocket 45.

When the hook 41 is positioned to project laterally of the side face 22as shown in FIG. 2, and the eyed end 46 is pushed into the socket 45,the holder 44 exerts a slight wedging pressure on the hook normally tohold it against withdrawal. The leader than projects forwardly throughthe opening 47 to the head 14 where it slidably extends through eitherthe hole 37 or the hole 38 depending on the speed at which the trollingis to be'done.

The fisherman may choose to troll at a fairly slow speed and would thenuse hole 37 to guide the leader 40 through the head 14. As the lure 10is drawn through the water, it is caused to roll or rotate about thelongitudinal axis 32 and this rolling or rotating action appears to becaused by the leading edge 26 and the location of the point ofattachment of the leader 40 to the edge 28. Leading edge 26 acts as aplaning surface as it moves forwardly through the water and since it isdisposed at a slight angle to the direction of travel of the lure, dueto the curvature of body 12, a force is applied which tends to rotatethe lure. The rolling movement is about the portion of leader 40 whichextends forwardly of the head 14 and this portion enters the hole 37 ashort distance (one-fourth of an inch in this instance) to the rear ofthe nose 34. The part of the head from the upper edge end of the hole 37to the nose 34 exerts a slight braking effect on the action of the lureand this, combined with the amount of curvature which is given to thebody 12, apparently determines the speed of rotation of the lure, whichspeed is at a desirably slow rate. The head 14 describes a small circlewhile the tail 16 describes a larger circle as the lure 10 travelsthrough the water.

As this rolling or rotating action takes place, the lure 10 moves fromside to side as well as up and down somewhat in the manner of a smalllive but injured fish swimming erratically to escape attack and this hasbeen found to be particularly effective in enticing salmon to strike atthe lure 10. When the salmon strikes and is caught by the hook 41, thefirst reaction of the fish is to jerk its head to one side in an effortto dislodge the hook and as a result, the lure is force forwardly alongthe leader 40 and the hook is pulled out of the holder 44 as shown indotted line in FIG. 3. Thus, the lure 10 is less likely to be damaged bythe fish as it struggles to free itself from the hook.

At times the fisherman may want to troll at a higher speed of the actionof tidal currents may make the relative speed of the lure 10 through thewater higher than normally would be the case. The fisherman would thenthread the leader 40 through the hole 38 whereby to increase the spacingof the point of attachment of said leader from the nose 34. It has beenfound that, by using hole 38, the rate of spin of the lure is maintainedclose to the desirable slow rate as before in spite of the fact that thetrolling speed is higher. One reason for this is that the tail 16 istilted upwardly to a slight extent due to the point of attachment of theleader 40 to the head 14 being relatively widely spaced from the nose34. Since the lure 10 is then inclined at a small angle to the axis 32,the angle of the leading edge 26 is decreased and the angle of the upperedge 28 is increased, both relative to the path of travel of the lure.Edge 26 then is slightly less effective and the braking or drag effectof the upper edge is greater. Thus the rolling and darting action of thelure 10 in the water is not speeded up as might otherwise be the case toa degree which might frighten off game fish and which might reduce thelikelihood of the fish becoming caught by the hook if it was tempted tostrike.

From the foregoing, it will be apparent I have provided a fishing lurewhich is inexpensive to manufacture and is extremely long lasting. Thehook is quite easily reset into the holder whenever it is withdrawntherefrom and the device then is ready to be cast back into the wateronce again with a minimum loss of fishing time.

I claim:

1. A fishing lure comprising a body shaped to simulate a herring stripand including a head and a tail, said body curving longitudinallybetween the head and the tail and having a concave side face; said headbeing of a greater width than the body and having a downwardly andrearwardly inclined leading edge, a substantially transverse trailingedge, and an upper edge; a hole extending upwardly through the headbetween the trailing Sal 122 ei xiiliiiilg aifihisifhi fi iii 3133 52%and through the hole to project forwardly of the head, said hole beingspaced a predetermined distance rearwardly of the leading edge andcombining with the planing action of the leading edge to spin the lureat a suitable speed as it is drawn through the water.

2. A fishing lure as claimed in claim 1, and including a second holeextending upwardly through the head between the trailing edge and theupper edge and adapted to receive the leader instead of the firstmentioned hole, said second hole being spaced further to the rear thanthe first mentioned hole.

3. A fishing lure as claimed in claim 1, and including a holder on theconcave side face to releasably secure the hook to the body.

4. A fishing lure as claimed in claim 3, in which said holder has asocket to receive the eyed end of the fish hook whereby to support saidfish hook projecting laterally from the body, and said holder having anopening through which the leader extends.

5. A fishing lure comprising a body shaped to simulate a herring stripand including a head and a tail, said body curving longitudinallybetween the head and the tail and having a concave side face; said headbeing of a greater width than the body and having a downwardly andrearwardly inclined leading edge, a substantially transverse trailingedge, and an upper edge; a first and a second hole extending upwardlythrough the head between the trailing edge and the upper edge, saidsecond hole being spaced further away from the lead ing edge than thefirst hole, a hook secured to a leader, said leader extending alongsidethe concave side face and being selectively threaded through either thefirst hole or the second hole to project forwardly of the head, a holderon the concave side face of the body, said holder having a socket toreleasably house the eyed end of the fish hook and support said fishhook projecting laterally from the body, and said holder having anopening through which the leader extends.

1. A fishing lure comprising a body shaped to simulate a herring stripand including a head and a tail, said body curving longitudinallybetween the head and the tail and having a concave side face; said headbeing of a greater width than the body and having a downwardly andrearwardly inclined leading edge, a substantially transverse trailingedge, and an upper edge; a hole extending upwardly through the headbetween the trailing edge and the upper edge, a hook secured to aleader, said leader extending alongside the concave side face andthrough the hole to project forwardly of the head, said hole beingspaced a predetermined distance rearwardly of the leading edge andcombining with the planing action of the leading edge to spin the lureat a suitable speed as it is drawn through the water.
 2. A fishing lureas claimed in claim 1, and including a second hole extending upwardlythrough the head between the trailing edge and the upper edge andadapted to receive the leader instead of the first mentioned hole, saidsecond hole being spaced further to the rear than the first mentionedhole.
 3. A fishing lure as claimed in claim 1, and including a Holder onthe concave side face to releasably secure the hook to the body.
 4. Afishing lure as claimed in claim 3, in which said holder has a socket toreceive the eyed end of the fish hook whereby to support said fish hookprojecting laterally from the body, and said holder having an openingthrough which the leader extends.
 5. A fishing lure comprising a bodyshaped to simulate a herring strip and including a head and a tail, saidbody curving longitudinally between the head and the tail and having aconcave side face; said head being of a greater width than the body andhaving a downwardly and rearwardly inclined leading edge, asubstantially transverse trailing edge, and an upper edge; a first and asecond hole extending upwardly through the head between the trailingedge and the upper edge, said second hole being spaced further away fromthe leading edge than the first hole, a hook secured to a leader, saidleader extending alongside the concave side face and being selectivelythreaded through either the first hole or the second hole to projectforwardly of the head, a holder on the concave side face of the body,said holder having a socket to releasably house the eyed end of the fishhook and support said fish hook projecting laterally from the body, andsaid holder having an opening through which the leader extends.